To the casual consumer, fat burners are intimidating and confusing. With good reason, too — 99% of them are admittedly total garbage.

There’s simply way too much noise out there, from brands using ineffective ingredients, overly dangerous formulas, or just running online marketing scams. Google’s no help either — searching for best fat burner is spammed to the high heavens.

Most products are trash… but the ones on this page aren’t.

Assumptions on your diet

There’s no magic pill — to lose weight, you need to do 98% of the work.

We assume you have that handled here. These products can give you the boost you want, but they won’t do it alone.

But there’s good news: in that other 1% of products lay a hidden gold mine.

There are a number of ingredients that work to help your body burn more fat than it normally would — and when they’re mixed responsibly and effectively, you can safely get a serious yet natural boost to your metabolism.

Over the course of this document, you’ll learn about these effective ingredients, and sources are cited for you.

Stealing from the best: Sports nutrition companies

The majority of the products discussed on this page are not going to be seen on your daytime television programs. Most of those fat burners don’t burn fat, despite their claims.

Instead, we stick to products from the sports nutrition industry, where we can find the right ingredients in doses that actually work.

Our Top 10 Fat Burners

Disclaimer: This is OUR list

While PricePlow does have occasional advertisers, our opinions here can NEVER be bought. In fact, we are the ones who choose our advertisers – not the other way around.

As full disclsoure, we receive commissions from the stores listed on this page, and hope to provide you with a PRICEPLOW coupon to save you money along the way.

Note that this list is based upon a team-based decision process after several fat burner runs over the years, and our opinion is not for sale at any price. For the most part, we prefer the low-to-moderate caffeine fat burners that have extra “feel” to them.

As full disclosure, we have received free samples of nearly every product on this page. We judge each product on its own merits (value, efficacy, labeling disclosure, and quality), and never let free samples sway our opinions. Using a team-based approach, we judge each product on merits of value, efficacy, labeling disclosure, and quality, and our opinions are never swayed by free samples.

Top 10 Fat Burners without “crazy stimulants”

Many fat burners in this category begin to look the same after a while, so we did our best to show a good variation of effects and profiles.

Genius Burn is a well-dosed caffeine-free fat burner that enhances weight loss and improves mood and focus, with ALL trusted, trademarked ingredients.

TL;DR: Caffeine-Free, but not stimulant-free, focus and stress control.

Let’s get this show started with our one caffeine-free (but not stimulant-free!) option.

We’ve been loving The Genius Brand because of the potent and unique formulas they bring, despite the cost being a bit higher than a lot of other brands out there.

This one goes after focus, feeling good, and reducing cortisol levels with a combination of KSM-66 Ashwagandha, CDP Choline, Theacrine, TheaKalm L-Theanine, and Huperzine A.

On the “fat burning” side, you have an ingredient to keep blood sugar lower (GS4 Plus Gymnema Sylvestre Extract) and Capsimax for capsaicin from red hot peppers.

And if you want to add your energy, you can always just drink your coffee, take a zero-carb energy drink, or even try their Genius Caffeine product!

So this is a bit of an oddball option, but maybe some of you are looking for some stress-relief to avoid over-eating the carbs, and don’t want to ditch the VPX Bang zero-carb energy drink or black coffee.

Blue Star Nutraceuticals has reformulated their popular fat burner Blade to remove Picamilon and increase its fat-shredding capability.

TL;DR: Highest yohimbe option with tons of heat… but also tons of money.

If you like Yohimbe and you like heat, and budget is no issue, then shoot this one to the top of your list — Blue Star Blade brings some serious Y-action for those who can handle it!

Most fat burners stick to safe doses of yohimbe, say in the 1.5-2.5mg range, which is enough to work a bit but not so much to make anyone overly-stimulated. But the problem is that there are some people who simply love the ingredient, and they need to go buy more separately to get the product to behave like they want.

Blue Star Nutraceuticals caters to this demographic, and has a whopping 8mg yohimbine HCl in each serving, yielding some extreme appetite suppression and energy. To top it off, there’s quite a bit of pepper extract and 225mg caffeine per serving.

Biggest issue outside of that is the price. If it was cheaper, it’d be higher up this list, but given that we’re PricePlow, we have to take value into consideration when there are so many options in this category.

So if you are a Y-lover, and like everything else in the label below, then that could vault this one to the top for you, but Blue Star doesn’t bring it cheap.

The Mountain Dog John Meadows strikes again! We were blown away by the pumps in his pre workout supplement “Arc Reactor”, and once again he impresses with this lower-caffeine fat burner.

By our math, you’ll be getting 125mg caffeine in each two capsule serving (100mg from caffeine anhydrous and another ~25mg from the 34mg of Infinergy). This makes the product a lower-caffeine option, but you get a 1:1 caffeine:theacrine ratio since you get 125mg of that too!

So instead of tons of caffeine, John and the Granite team are banking their bets on a whopping dose of 275mg Chocomine. This is a cocoa extract standardize for 12% theobromine and a whole slew of other healthy components found in cocoa – minus the fats and carbs, of course!

Then to bring the “lipo” part in, you have the potent Capsimax cayenne pepper extract combined with 40mg Paradoxine grains of paradise, topped off with a small bit of Bioperine for added absorption.

Long story short? A unique low-caffeine option that will still last long due to the Theacrine, and is your best way of evaluating how hiqh-quality cocoa extracts work for you.

As you’ll see in the label below, this bottle is absolutely loaded up!

TL;DR: The most total energy and heat you’ll get in a single bottle in this whole section.

Most products on this page have 60 capsules, 90 capsules, or maybe up to 180 capsules.

But Robert Samborsky’s brand of New Jersey style strength says “nah” to that, and packs this with 240 capsules!

The official serving size is four capsules, all taken twice a day, but that would add up to a total of 600mg caffeine in a day, so you can definitely tone it down and make this bottle last way longer.

With each of those servings, though, you’re getting a ton of our favorite ingredients – L-Tyrosine for focus, synephrine for added fat burn, and the heat is going to come from both 50mg capsaicin and 50mg Paradoxine grains of paradise.

The highest-dosed ingredient, however, is 1g of Acetyl L-Carnitine (ALCAR), which also adds a bit more focus, mood, and increases “fatty acid dumping” — especially for low-carb and keto dieters who can use the acetyl- part to make more ketones for energy!

You’ll likely want to start with two or three capsules, but if you can get an entire serving down, the combined effects will definitely get felt. Either way, this stuff is pricey, but you get a ton of it.

Transparent Labs PhysiqueSeries Fat Burner will help you shed pounds fast and maintain muscle while sculpting the ideal physique.

TLDR: An honorable effort at replacing the ECA Stack, but make sure you use our coupon!

Transparent Labs is a new company that’s been tearing the scene up with their 100% open formula, well-packed formulas that are free of artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners. While that sets apart their popular PreSeries Bulk Supplement (also a top-rated pre workout), that doesn’t provide as much differentiation with capsule products that are all basically free of such things.

But the formula is still very impressive, using a monster dose of forskolin and focus- and mood-boosting ingredients of 5-HTP and L-Tyrosine.

Replicating a mild version of the “ECA Stack”

Those ingredients are further supported by synephrine and white willow, which provides a natural source of aspirin precursor, salicylic acid. This helps replicate the “ECA stack”, where the ‘E’ is used by Synephrine and the white willow provides the A.

Then, of course, is the caffeine – this is a moderately dosed 120mg per serving, but you get a serious 60 servings per container, so there’s no short supply of this fat burner!

While it’s well-formulated, we just don’t think it’s as bombastic as their pre workout supplement, PreSeries Bulk, but it’s still worthy of Top 10 praise — and only PricePlow has the best coupons on it!

Hurakan is the groundbreaking new fat burner from Primeval Labs that looks to actually help burn fat, not just crack you out.

TL;DR: Lots going on here, but a big mix of stim-free, stimulant, diuretic, and carnitine-based ingredients.

This label has more going on than we can explain, so let’s consider it a “full spectrum” that crosses off all kinds of checkboxes, from te “Dr. Oz ingredients” (garcinia cambogia, green coffee bean extract, and olive leaf extract) to the diuretics (dandelion) to the four-pronged L-Carnitine attack, to the stims and heat blend!

Unfortunately, the most important part — the “Thermo Energy Blend” — is the one in a proprietary blend, but we get exited every time there’s both capsaicin and grains of paradise to keep you hot, and this also includes yohimbine and evodiamine to do even more!

But what we’re told is that it has 250mg caffeine per three capsules, so that’s good to know.

It all comes down to how well you do with this prop blend, but we’ve liked what we’ve tried and Primeval fans worldwide are too!

Additionally, we see some insane deals on this one – if there’s an offer on BOGO, then you’re looking at one of the better deals on this entire page!

This is a unique product for two reasons: First, it has a very awesome coffee flavored powder that is an absolute joy to drink anytime, but especially in the morning.

And second, it’s unique because the ingredients are unique. You have the addition of vanillin, which may be assist with stimulating lipolysis while boosting energy metabolism. This ingredient also adds an incredible smell to the product!

On top of that, there’s also cirsium oligophyllum, an ingredient not seen often, but was in OxyELITE Pro, one of the most successful fat burners ever.

The label gets a bit crazy with all of the different forms of caffeine used, but we’ve received confirmation that each scoop contains 150mg caffeine. What’s great about the powdered form is that you can tweak the strength exactly to your liking!

TL;DR: A well-rounded thermogenic from our most trusted brand on this list, with third-party lab tests for proof.

NutraBio is a company that’s been around for twenty years, but only recently are they really getting attention from the sports nutrition market, as they’ve now expanded into other retail stores like GNC, Amazon, Bodybuilding, and VitaminShoppe.

ThermoFuel v9 has a great mix of focus boosters, two forms of caffeine for longer absorption and no crash, and a higher-than-usual dose of synephrine to burn more fat!

Their popularity began to explode to a new level once non-proprietary blends took off in the industry – something they’d been doing all along!

But in all reality, with NutraBio, it’s all about the trust and quality. They manufacture their own supplements in a 100% cGMP-compliant facility, and have passed every FDA audit with glowing reports.

In terms of the ThermoFuel fat burner, which is currently on version 9 as we write this, they bring a good dose of focus-boosting L-Tyrosine and Acetyl L-Carnitine to the mix, yet have higher doses of green tea extract as well.

To burn more fat, a larger-than-usual dose of synephrine is inside (60mg) alongside a smokin 45,000 heat unit pepper extract!

The caffeine mix is interesting: in three capsules, you’ll get 200mg caffeine, which comes from 160mg dicaffeine malate (yielding 120mg caffeine) alongside 80mg straight caffeine. This increased amount of dicaffeine malate gets absorbed more slowly, allowing the fat burner to last longer with no crash. We’re big fans of this mix.

Finally, to keep blood sugar low, banaba leaf extract is added, making this a great product to take pre-meal.

Overall, if you haven’t checked out anything by NutraBio, then it’s time to research them – with those third-party lab tests, there’s no company we trust more!

Muscle Elements is a hot new brand comprised of industry veterans, and this is a hot new fat burner that we’re excited to have around the office.

212° provides a great blend of thermogenic heat, stimulants, diuretics, and a bit of focus. If you’re looking for a product with a diuretic edge to it, to look more “tight and dry”, this is the one to get.

On top of the 175mg caffeine per capsule, the extra energy will come from synephrine, octopamine, and PEA. Note that the powdered formula discussed below has a bit more caffeine (200mg per scoop).

A powdered option

What we love about this one is that Muscle Elements created a powdered version, and it is without a doubt the best-flavored fat burning drink we’ve had! Stimulants like this are hard to flavor, but orange gets it done and then some!

We’re extremely happy with what Muscle Elements is up to, and have always enjoyed following this brand!

Warning: contains a WADA banned substance (octopamine)

One thing is that this product contains octopamine in the Fat Oxidation & Core Temperature section. This is a great-feeling stimulant, but it is banned by WADA, so be careful if you’re a drug tested athlete! Everyone else will love it though.

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The capsule ingredients

The powder ingredients

For even more potency, you can also stack this with Muscle Elements’ LeanWorks shown above, which is a stimulant-free solution that you can take at night. There’s some mild diuretics in there, and users have absolutely loved the way they wake up noticeably leaner (don’t forget to rehydrate though!)

[This marks the end of the Top 10 Fat Burners *without* aggressive stimulants. You can click the back button to return, or see the more aggressive ones below.]

The ECA Stack

A common E-C stack

You might recognize ephedrine as the “scary” chemical that comes from ephedra and is used to make methamphetamine (you’ve seen Breaking Bad, right?), but when used in isolation with just caffeine, it happens to be extremely effective and quite safe.

In case you don’t believe us, we have nearly a dozen well-performed research studies to back that statement up. But first, a quick statement:

Ephedrine vs. “Ephedra Pills”

Since ephedrine was banned from supplements in 2004, Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, who sells today’s legal ephedra pills, removes the banned ephedrine alkaloids from the pills, and replaces them with other stimulants and ephedrine-like PEA alkaloids from acacia rigidula extract.

You can read the entire updated story on our massive Ephedra update post, which shows the research. Otherwise, keep reading for the EC stack:

This all translates to notable amounts of weight loss – both in the short and long term, and it’s mostly due to fat loss. This has been backed up by numerous well-performed studies on top of the ones above.[40,43,44,45]

Add caffeine? Yes.

Adding some amount of caffeine (never more than 200mg at a time) is almost a no-brainer with this one: every study that’s compared ephedrine alone to ephedrine + caffeine has shown that together, caffeine and ephedrine are far more effective.[46,47,48]

What are the side effects of Ephedrine?

This is where you have some decisions to make. First, note that adding caffeine will increase side effects compared to what’s mentioned in a few of the studies cited below. Aspirin can also add its own side effects, so we don’t stack that in normally.

With those disclaimers, the good news is that when it’s used in appropriate doses, there’s actually a comforting lack of major side effects in several of the studies cited above.[47,48]

In one study, researchers reported side effects were tremor, insomnia, and dizziness, but they were short-lasting — after eight weeks, side effects reached the same levels as placebo.[48]. This was likely to the study jumping right into a slightly aggressive dosage, which is why we don’t recommend doing that in the dosage strategy below.

On top of that, another trial done on adolescents even reported it as a “safe and effective compound for the treatment of obesity in adolescents”.[49]

Other notes:

Watch out for the blood pressure bump

The biggest concern for some, however, is the initial increase in blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic) and heart rate when combining ephedrine and caffeine. However, even those eventually fell.[48]

With that said, anyone with any type of cardiovascular concerns is best to stay away from this stack.

What about withdrawal? Opinions are mixed

This area may stir up some controversy. Ephedrine is a compound that your body doesn’t “get used to” in terms of burning fat, and some studies have had users on it for long periods of time.[134] However, we still recommend cycling off of it after eight weeks of use.

Despite some studies mentioning a lack of withdrawal symptoms when discontinuing[47] or mild withdrawal symptoms[49], we would beg to differ.

Anecdotally speaking, going from 8 weeks of ephedrine + caffeine use back down to zero stimulants can be better described as “not fun” to “brutal” depending on the person you ask. 8 weeks is the recommended length of a cycle, with a month off in between.

However, quitting any stimulant cold turkey is never a fun task. The longer you’re on it, the more likely your withdrawal symptoms will be rough.

To add the “A” (aspirin) or not?

Opinions are mixed as to whether or not Aspirin should be added to ephedrine and caffeine (taking all three together is known as the ECA Stack).

Aspirin is added because it is a prostaglandin inhibitor, and that works to boost the effect of ephedrine (prostaglandins provide for a negative feedback mechanism that dampens ephedrine’s strength).[50]

In addition, aspirin prevents blood clotting, which is a theoretical potential side effect of ephedrine.

The issue is that aspirin adds its own slew of side effects, and the pros do not outweigh the cons for most users.

Numerous studies cited above have shown that EC works extremely well without it. Do you really need to confound the issue with added aspirin? That’s up to you, but in our opinion, our final answer is no to aspirin.

Consider Fish Oil Instead

Instead of aspirin, most users opt to stack it with fish oil, which is a great supplement that we recommend regardless anyway (unless your fish intake is quite high). Fish oil contains the same anti-clotting mechanisms while not causing the same organ side effects as aspirin.

When it comes to these products, we recommend those with high DHA / high EPA levels. Some links are provided in the next section for purchasing recommendations:

How to buy the ECA Stack

Caffeine is the easy part

We don’t suggest you “ballpark” it with coffee – get the right dosage and avoid unnecessary issues.

Ephedrine, however, may be tougher to get.

In America, you’ll need to head to your local pharmacy and see what they have in the breathing relief / asthma section.

There are two major choices:

Bronkaid

The primary choice by most users is Bronkaid. Each caplet contains 25mg of ephedrine sulfate and 400mg Guaifenesin, which is an expectorant.

Primatene

The second option is Primatene, which contains 12.5mg Ephedrine HCl and 200mg Guaifenesin.

It’s not as well-known as Bronkaid, but if your pharmacy has it, then it’s the go-to. We like the small doses for more precise customization at the low-end dose.

The legal part

Ephedrine is not in any supplements you’ll find on PricePlow because it’s more of an “over the counter drug” than a dietary supplement, per the FDA. They’re sold as asthma medications (hence the expectorant being added).

Ephedrine has to be highly regulated due to illicit drug manufacturers, which is probably another reason the expectorant is added. Americans can expect your pharmacist to ask for ID and record your information. There’s a maximum quantity you can buy per month.

Fish Oil, if not using Aspirin

We like high-DHA, high-EPA fish oil. These are the two fatty acid chains that have been shown to provide the most actual benefits from fish oil.

EC / ECA Stack dosage

…just once in day 1 to assess. You can slowly working up from there and tracking your progress.

Our preferred dosage:

With all things considered, we prefer to peak out at this dosage, twice per day:

25mg ephedrine

200mg caffeine

Aspirin, if used, is once per day and low / baby dose

Once again, if you’ve chosen to go with aspirin, use one baby aspirin (81mg) once per day. We still recommend against it in favor of a standard fish oil dosage.

Max dosage, with caveats

The maximum scientifically-backed dosage is three times per day:

20mg ephedrine

200mg caffeine

Our issue with the “max” dosage

Note that the above is the max dosage, and it has a questionable amount of caffeine, since 600mg caffeine per day is well into the bothersome side effect range for caffeine.

When reviewing the data available, recommendations from Health Canada state that 6mg per kg of bodyweight per day is a quality maximum.[51] That converts to 500mg caffeine for a standard 185lb male, and we don’t recommend going too much higher, especially if you are heavier.

Just because you’re heavier doesn’t mean your cardiovascular can handle much more, so take the recommendation above[51] with a grain of salt – it should probably be applied to lean body mass, not total mass.

Be safe, folks, and don’t ruin it for everyone else!

So why don’t I ever read about this stuff?

Although the stack sounds quite intense, all of the research cited backs up the notion that ephedrine is actually more beneficial to heart-healthy individuals than it is dangerous.

So why don’t you ever read about this anywhere?

The answer is simple: Money.

Since it’s no longer produced a supplement and is only sold as a drug (by pharmaceutical companies that really can’t make any claims using the research cited above), basically nobody stands to make much money from it. That includes us here at PricePlow.

So why would any major publication ever write about it?

That said, we’re PricePlow and we’ believe in presenting all sides. It wouldn’t be fair for us to put together a page on “Best Fat Burner” and not include a serious discussion on the EC or ECA stack.

If you are going to go this route, read the research, understand the side effects, get a full physical, talk to your doctor, get their written consent, and then and only then, start at a very low dosage.

The point being, you will get very little “corporate” support beyond that, and are a bit on your own from there.

They’re both thermogenic, however, and that might be too much to handle for a lot of people — especially beginners.

So if you’ve never run an “EC” stack first or you don’t know exactly what you’re capable of handling, don’t try ECY yet. Run eight weeks on EC, and then on your next cycle, you can consider a light yohimbine dosage to assess the difference.

[This marks the end of the ECA stack. You can click the back button to go back to where you came from.]

Fat Burner Scams: The stuff that doesn’t work:

Remember… just because it’s on afternoon TV doesn’t mean it’s true!

Below is a list of products that are not at all proven to burn fat in humans, yet are frequently marketed to do so:

Acai Berry

A great antioxidant, but by now, we hope you realize that it has no proven fat burning potential[90] and was a massive scam back in 2007 through 2011.[91]

Raspberry Ketones

Marketing is based on test tube research and rat studies that use astronomical dosages, and still isn’t very significant.[92] The amount it would take to possibly burn fat would be a whole lot more than fits in a few pills, and test tube results (in vitro) have never been replicated in the human body (in vivo). In short, it’s a massive online marketing scam.

Green Coffee Bean Extract

Conan basically sums up our thoughts on Dr. Oz right here…

The “successful” weight loss studies are based on shady research that has been biased by supplement manufacturers and confounded with other ingredients that are already known to work.

The chlorogenic acid inside is great for the heart (can lower blood pressure and such), but there’s no quality link between this ingredient and fat loss.[93]

CLA

For every pro-CLA study, there are two more that show insignificant or negative results.[94-104] Overall, its too weak to make a big deal of. Most of us get enough of these “healthy fats” that we needn’t worry about it. Spend your money elsewhere.

African Mango

Otherwise known as Irvingia gabonensis, this one has some benefits similar to fiber that enables users to eat less when taken in very large doses, such as 1.05g before each meal.[105] It does not function as a fat burner, and other forms of fiber, such as glucomannan, are more cost-effective.[106]

Garcinia Cambogia

Despite some evidence that it helps mice, human studies have proven it to be worthless for humans.[107,108] Unlike most other supplements on this list, garcinia seems to have no effects on any health parameters – weight and bodyfat included.

L-Carnitine

L-Carnitine only works for fat loss if you’re carnitine deficient, which is most common in vegetarians/vegans and the elderly.[58,59,109] If anything, we suggest taking ALCAR (Acetyl L-Carnitine) because of it’s cognitive focus enhancing benefits.[60] For the average person, however, standard L-Carnitine is relatively useless.

Resveratrol

A great potential anti-aging and cardiovascular protection supplement, but definitely not a fat burner. In fact, it’s been shown to slow metabolic rate and lipid oxidation![110,111] Also terrible to take pre workout, as it diminishes the positive effects of exercise on the cardiovascular system.[112]

Chromium Picolinate

This mineral might help with blood glucose levels to a very small degree, but has not been shown to alter body weight or fat mass in nearly three dozen studies – only a few are cited below.[113,114,115]

Note: if you’d like more information on these, let us know and we can put together a more in-depth post. Until then, check the sources cited!

[This marks the end of our list of ineffective / overrated ingredients. You can click the back button to go back to where you came from.]

A note to the ladies on “the best fat burner for women”

Hi Ladies! We notice that a lot of women search for the phrase, best fat burners for women, but the results are littered with all kinds of ineffective products.

We are quite honestly not impressed by the vast, vast majority of products marketed exclusively towards females. They cost more, provide less, and use shady emotional tactics to sell them. Not our style here at PricePlow.

Soon we’ll have a separate page for women, but for now, we recommend you stick with our choose your own adventure guide or our top 10 list, except you should avoid the “ALL-OUT ENERGY” choice under the stimulant-based pills section. Those products will overwhelm most large men, let alone everyone else.

No BS here… just fat burning science.

If you want to see ads of cute pink bottles with Photoshopped 21 year old fitness models on them, you came to the wrong site.

But if you want to read about some products and ingredients that actually work (and we have the research cited to back that up) — yet won’t rip you off, then head back to the top and continue through the guide. We’ll find something good for you.

Clare, B; The diuretic effect in human subjects of an extract of Taraxacum officinale folium over a single day.; Department of Herbal Medicine, Tai Sophia Institute; 2009; Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19678785

Mike Roberto is a research scientist and water sports athlete who founded PricePlow. He is a biohacker with extensive experience in supplementation and dietary modification, whose personal expertise stems from several "n=1" experiments done on himself while sharing lab tests.

Mike's goal is to bridge the gap between nutritional research scientists and non-academics who seek to better their health in a system that has catastrophically failed the public.